Dozens of large jars are placed at the door of a small newly built factory in the eastern suburbs of Fanjiazhuang. Each of the big jars was more than a meter high and heavy. When viewed from the side, it looks like a large wine vat filled with wine.

Cai Huaishui opened the lid of a jar and said, "Lord Wang, this is the fierce fire oil you want." ”

Li Zhi walked to the side of the altar and looked inside.

Sure enough, Li Zhi saw the black viscous crude oil.

In the Ming Dynasty, China had already developed and utilized oil: Cao Xuequan of the Ming Dynasty recorded in the "Guangji of Shuzhong": "In the last year of Zhengde of the National Dynasty (1521), Jiazhou opened a salt well, and occasionally got oil and water, which could shine at night. "Recently, several wells have been opened, and the lawsuit is mastered." It has become more common to sink wells and extract oil in Sichuan. He Yudu's "Yibu Talks" recorded, "The oil wells are in Jiazhou, Meizhou, Qingshen, Jingyan, Hongya, and Qianwei counties. ”

The Ming Dynasty also used oil as fuel to make fire-breathing chariots, which were called fierce fire oil chariots.

Therefore, Li Zhi did not encounter any difficulties when he wanted to find oil. Cai Huaishui went to Sichuan and bought dozens of jars of crude oil back.

Cai Huaishui came to Li Zhi's side, followed Li Zhi to look at the oil in the jar, and said, "Lord Wang, this oil is very powerful, and it burns very brightly." Therefore, the people of Sichuan call this oil fierce fire oil. It's just that it smells, and it makes people uncomfortable after smelling it for a long time. ”

"Lord Wang, what are you looking for this fierce fire oil for?"

Li Zhi smiled and said, "Cai Huaishui, this oil is not called fierce fire oil, this is called oil!" “

Cai Huaishui was stunned, not knowing why Li Zhi wanted to change the name of this fuel.

"The prince said it was oil, and that was oil."

Li Zhi laughed and said, "This oil is found everywhere in the world, and it is an underground mineral deposit with large reserves. Especially in the Middle East, which is to the west of us, where Asia, Africa and Europe meet. “

Although Cai Huaishui is a technical cadre in Fanjiazhuang, he also found time to study Li Zhi's various middle school textbooks on his own. I have a certain concept of geography and know what kind of place Li Zhi is talking about in the Middle East.

"Of course, we also have a lot of places in Daming that produce oil, but it is not easy to exploit. Later, we developed oil-loaded ships to mine shallow crude oil in the Middle East. “

Li Zhi continued: "This oil is a treasure. “

Cai Huaishui was stunned and asked, "Lord Wang, this oil can only be used to burn, how can it be called a treasure?" “

Li Zhi laughed and said, "You let people move two jars of oil into the oil refinery, and I will show you a trick." “

Cai Huaishui hurriedly asked people to go to Zhang Luo and carried two heavy jars of oil into the refinery. As soon as he entered the tall building of the refinery, Cai Huaishui saw a towering fractionation tower.

The main body of the fractionation column is made of cement, and steel is used in a few places. The entire fractionation tower is five stories high and has stairs up and down. There are openings at different levels of the fractionation tower, and various conduits protrude from these openings, which are connected to various tanks.

There is a place under the fractionation column where crude oil can be held, which is a large iron canister. Underneath the tin pot is a stove with a pile of coals underneath it.

Now, due to the continuous development, almost all the woods around Fanjiazhuang have been cut down, and firewood is hard to come by. On the one hand, because the continuous reclamation of new fields occupies more and more places, and the forests become farmland. On the other hand, due to the expansion of the city, the industrial and residential areas of Fanjiazhuang have also begun to open up land in the woods.

Today's Fanjiazhuang is no longer limited to the area surrounded by the city wall. Because of the confidence of Qi Wang's force, no one believed that the enemy could hit Fanjiazhuang, so many private factory owners with flexible brains built their factories on the outskirts of Fanjiazhuang, where land was cheap. Once the factory is on the ground, a small residential area next to the factory will also come into being.

With factories and residents, commercial areas are gradually congregating, so the suburbs of Fanjiazhuang are now developing extremely fast.

According to Fanjiazhuang's official statistics, the total population of Fanjiazhuang and the vicinity of the Tianjin Acropolis had reached 730,000 at the end of last year. There are countless private factories and workshops.

So now Fanjiazhuang has greatly reduced the use of firewood. On weekdays, the steam boilers burn coal, while the people burn charcoal for heating. That is, to burn some firewood when cooking, you need to import it from Beizhili.

Li Zhi pointed to the tin pot above the stove and said to Cai Huaishui, "Pour the oil into that tin can." “

Cai Huaishui hurriedly beckoned the porter to pour oil.

Soon, the stove under the tin pot was on fire. The thermometer on the stovetop is starting to heat up. When the oil on the stove began to boil, Li Zhi gave an order and asked the staff to open the sluice gate between the boiler and the fractionator.

The scorching petroleum crude turned into gas and went into the fractionator.

Cai Huaishui's eyes widened, looking at the pipes and jars up and down the fractional retort.

After about a quarter of an hour, a viscous liquid began to flow from the bottom tube.

The liquid was black and appeared thicker than flowing oil. Because the temperature is still very high at this time, it can still flow in the tube. But Cai Huaishui suspected that as soon as the temperature dropped, the viscous thing would solidify.

Li Zhi pointed to the sticky black thing and said happily: "Cai Huaishui, you see, this first product is asphalt. “

"Lord Wang, what is asphalt?"

"Asphalt is a waterproofing material that can also be used to protect against corrosion. Of course, the biggest use is to pave roads. Asphalt paved roads have a certain elasticity, and are more stable and comfortable than concrete roads when walking on horses. Moreover, asphalt-paved roads are easy to maintain, and if they are broken, another layer of asphalt will be fine. “

"Of course, more importantly, this asphalt can be obtained by direct fractionation from petroleum, which is low cost and cheap. Unlike cement, which requires high-temperature firing, the cost is high. “

Cai Huaishui was amazed and looked at the asphalt with his eyes.

Li Zhi looked up at the second layer of the fractionation tower. Sure enough, it didn't take long for the second tube to start flowing out of the product.

Li Zhi took Cai Huaishui to the second floor of the refinery to see the product flowing out of the second pipe.

"Lord Wang, why can this oil become something different after entering the fractionator?"

Li Zhi said: "This oil is originally a mixture, not one thing, but a mixture of many things. After the high temperature turns into a gas, it condenses at different temperatures, and the different components are separated. “

Cai Huaishui suddenly realized and said, "I see! “

Li Zhi pointed to the viscous oil condensed from the second layer of pipes and said, "This second product is lubricating oil. “

"This petroleum-based lubricant is far superior to ordinary animal and vegetable oils, and its use in the bearings of machines and horses can greatly reduce the friction of the joints, which has a great effect on improving the performance and efficiency of our machines."

Cai Huaishui was very surprised when he heard this, and said: "The oil that bubbles up from the ground is so useful? “